


Don't Let Go on Christmas

by masterroadtripper



Series: Don't Let Go Series [2]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Artist Connor Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen), Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Hanukkah, M/M, Park Ranger Evan Hansen, Service Dogs, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28304478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masterroadtripper/pseuds/masterroadtripper
Summary: Years after the events of Don't Let Go, Connor is out of town on Christmas Eve for business, leaving Evan home with their adopted twin girls.  Arriving home on Christmas Day, the family celebrates their first Christmas together.A small sequel to Don't Let Go
Relationships: Evan Hansen/Connor Murphy
Series: Don't Let Go Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2073045
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. The Hansen-Murphy Elves

**Author's Note:**

> Set an unknown period of time after the events of Don't Let Go.
> 
> These chapters will be quick, but they're just a little something I put together between finishing off the semester on Tuesday and now. I wanted to do a little something for Christmas time.

“I wish you were here with me right now,” Evan said into the phone pressed between his ear and shoulder as he was elbow deep in soapy water, washing the dishes from the day.

“Less than twelve hours now,” Connor’s voice on the other end of the line replied. His voice sounded exhausted and lethargic like he hadn’t slept well the entire time he’d been away.

“I know,” Evan replied, looking over the counter towards where Rocky was resting on his bed in the corner. The greying german shepherd barely acknowledged that Evan was on the phone and the only indication that he had that the elderly dog was still awake was that his tail was sweeping back and forth lazily on the floor.

“Did Leila and Ellie get to sleep on time?” Connor asked, and in the background, Evan could hear the bedsheets of the hotel room he was staying in rustling around.

Looking towards the stairs, which neither of their twin girls had descended in search of comfort after a nightmare or hearing a weird noise, the promise of Santa Claus delivering presents just too much to keep even the most active of minds awake, Evan replied, “without a fuss.”

“See,” Connor said, “I told you they’d do well for you.”

“Yeah,” Evan agreed, “still doesn’t mean they haven’t been asking about you and Cooper every day.”

“Eleven hours, fifty-eight minutes,” Connor replied and Evan could practically hear him smiling through the phone.

“You should go to bed, you’re going to be up early for your flight,” Evan said, placing yet another washed plate onto the drying rack next to the sink that Connor had fashioned out of four pieces of wood and two cooking trays after their dishwasher had broken. It wasn’t in the books, financially, to replace the old appliance yet, so they were making do without for the time being.

“Yeah, okay,” Connor replied, “I love you.”

“Love you too darling,” Evan replied as they hung up at the same time.

Wiping his hand on the towel beside the sink and placing his phone back into his pocket, Evan returned to drying the dishes and thinking about how he was so fortunate to have met Connor, all those years ago at the park. How, even though neither of them had conventional jobs, nor lived a conventional life, they had two beautiful girls who they loved dearly and one loving grandmother who doted on Leila and Ellie like there was no tomorrow.

Once the last dish was dry, Evan headed up the stairs. Pushing open the door to Connor’s art room, the one room in the house that both of their girls knew not to go into, he retrieved the carefully wrapped presents that had been getting collected in there over the past month, his own mother bringing a couple of her own over for Santa to give to them. It was going to be their first real Christmas, their first Christmas as a family, and Evan, Connor and "Grammy Heidi" wanted to make sure it was going to be one to remember.

Gathering the bags out of their hiding space, tucked between canvas frames and boxes of paint, Evan crept back down the stairs, taking care to move as silently as possible, in an effort to not wake his daughters. The twins who were both still incredibly light sleepers and, unfortunately, seemed to be triggered into either panic or flashbacks by the sounds of creaking stairs. Their poor girls, who had witnessed so much in the first six years of their life than any person should have to in their entire life.

With all the presents safely under the tree, Evan turned off the kitchen lights and unplugged the rest of the decorations. Leaning down to press a kiss into the soft fur of Rocky’s head, Evan gently ran his hand through the large dog’s fur and whispered, “good night bud, love you too,” before heading back towards the stairs of their small house. It wasn’t much, but it was theirs and if they could give two kids a chance at a normal life, they were going to try as hard as possible.

Tugging off his ugly Christmas sweater and throwing it towards the chair in the corner of his and Connor’s room, Evan set his alarm and plugged in his phone. Flopping backwards onto his bed, Evan rubbed at his face and looked at the clock. Eleven hours and thirty-one minutes.

* * *

The next morning, Evan woke up to four tiny knees colliding with his side. Blinking his eyes open, the sun wasn’t even shining through the window yet, but as Evan rolled over, he saw two blue eyes and two brown eyes gazing back at him, massive smiles on their faces as they shrieked, “Poppy!”

“Ohhh good morning my little elves,” Evan said, pushing himself to sit as Ellie climbed over his stomach to curl into the other side of his body while Leila laid down where she was. Brown curls spilling over his shoulders, Evan smiled and wrapped his arms around them.

“Merry Christmas Poppy,” Leila whispered, one of her little fingers playing with his tight blond curls.

“Merry Christmas Leila, Merry Christmas Ellie,” Evan replied, squeezing them momentarily closer.

They’d decided to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas this year, and probably for years to continue, hoping to give them equal exposure to both traditions, as the girls came from a mixed-religion family as well.

“When is Daddy coming home Poppy?” Ellie asked, lifting up Evan’s left arm and playing with the medic-alert bracelet wrapped around his wrist.

“We’re gonna get dressed and go to the airport and get him in…,” Evan started, looking over Leila’s head to see the clock on the night table, “an hour.”

“Then do we get to open the presents that Santa brought?!” Leila asked.

“Of course, my little elves,” Evan replied, "but we have to get Daddy from the airport first, okay?”

“‘Kay Poppy,” they parrotted in unison.

“Do you girls know what you want to wear today?” Evan asked.

“I wanna dress like Elsa!” Leila shrieked, pushing herself off the bed to go run back to their shared room, tiny feet slapping against the wooden floorboards.

“What do you want to wear Ellie?" Evan asked the remaining twin.

“Mmmm, can I dress like Rudolph?” Ellie asked, and while Evan knew that she had no reindeer costume in their shared closet, if she wanted to be a red-nosed reindeer to pick Connor up at the airport, he’d figure something out.


	2. The Best of Fathers

Grabbing his bag off the metal rotating carousel, Connor swung the strap of his duffel over his shoulder and headed towards the arrivals gate. Allowing the glass sliding door to open in his face, Connor stepped back into the real world with Cooper at his side.

Turning the corner, suddenly in view of dozens of families awaiting their loved ones, Connor saw Evan, Ellie and Leila before they saw him. Evan, with a Santa hat perched on his head, beard looking like it had been recently trimmed up, like a young Chris Cringle from far away. Leila, dressed in her well-worn Elsa costume that she’d almost grown out of, a pair of light blue jeans under the dress with her pink parka over top of it, feet stuffed into winter boots. Beside her, her almost-identical twin sister was in a matching pink parka and boots but wearing a brown shirt and brown corduroy pants with a pair of antlers on her head.

Elsa and Rudolph, standing with Chris Cringle, Connor thought with a smile. His family.

He knew he’d been spotted when Connor heard the dual high-pitched shrieks of Leila and Ellie. They slipped under the metal bar that they were standing behind with Evan and ran as fast as they could in winter boots on the slick linoleum flooring of the airport.

Dropping Cooper’s lead, knowing that he wouldn’t leave his side, Connor went onto one knee as he spread out his arms in time for the girls to collide with him. Pulling them in for a hug, pressing a kiss to each of their cheeks, Connor stood and took them with him. Giggling and squirming, they each got one more kiss planted to his heads before Connor put them down.

Grabbing his bag from where it had fallen and gripping Cooper’s lead again, the girls started talked over each other as they walked towards where Evan was waiting with a shy little smile on his face, cheeks pinked by the knowledge that their girls had made a little bit of a scene.

“Daddy! I’m Rudolph-,”

“And I’m Elsa,-”

“Poppy is like Santa-!”

“Santa left us presents under the tree-!”

“Grammy Heidi is coming soon-,”

“Poppy said she’s gonna be at home when we get there-,”

“Grammy Heidi is gonna make breakfast-,”

“Poppy look-,”

“Poppy, it's Daddy-!”

“Daddy and Cooper-!”

“Daddy can I come up?”

“Then can I go up with you Poppy?”

With a laugh, Connor patted Ellie on the head, her brown curls and reindeer antlers soft under his touch.

He hadn’t travelled since they adopted the twins and it’d been harder than he’d expected. When it’d just been him and Evan, it’d been hard to leave, but usually, daily phone calls helped stave off the homesickness long enough to get through the week. He didn’t realize he’d miss the girls so much. Hearing them chattering away in the playroom, eating dinner together, watching Disney princess movies, tucking them into bed. They’d made so much progress with the girls over the past year since they’d adopted them, and the last thing he’d wanted was to somehow reverse it all by leaving for eight days right before Christmas.

Though it seemed like nothing had changed, and as Evan shouldered Connor’s duffel bag for him, he picked up Ellie. Once Evan had the duffel over his shoulder, he picked up Leila. As they walked towards the exit, Connor pressed a kiss to Evan’s lips, whispering, “love you,” as he did. The faint blush on Evan’s cheeks proved that Evan hadn’t changed either as they were hit by a blast of cold air as they exited the airport and walked towards the car park.

Ellie snuggled into Connor’s shoulder, tiny hands gripping the collar of his jacket and the strap of his backpack. Without a free hand, Connor pressed his cheek into her curls, whispering, “did you look after Rocky when I was gone?”

“Yeah Daddy,” Ellie whispered back over Leila’s chattering from Evan’s arms beside them. He missed these types of moments with his girls.

“Good work Ellie,” Connor praised, the quieter of their two girls tucking her face into the collar of Connor’s shirt.

* * *

When the door to their house unlocked, Connor heard the duel shrieks of, “Grammy Heidi,” followed by the stampede of tiny feet through their house. From the playroom where they were chattering away surrounded by their new toys, to the front door to greet Evan’s mom, Connor watched as two heads of curled brown hair bounced past the countertop where he was working on chopping up bread crumbs for stuffing.

From the front foyer, Connor heard Heidi laughing with the girls, her voice greeting them in her naturally cheery tone. With a smile over his shoulder towards where Evan was stirring the gravy on the stove, Connor muttered, “go say hi to your mom, I’ll watch the gravy.”

Placing the knife down on its cutting board, Connor patted Evan lightly on the rear as the shorter man scooted out of their tight kitchen. Smiling down into the cutting board, Connor listened as Evan’s mom greeted him.

Soon, two sets of thundering footsteps arrived back into the kitchen, Leila and Ellie were practically vibrating out of the costumes they were still wearing since the morning.

“Daddy! Grammy Heidi is here!” Leila shrieked, jumping up and down, grabbing at the back of Connor’s Christmas sweater.

“Yeah, sweety,” Connor replied, running his hand through her curls, “is she coming, or did you leave her at the front door?”

“Grammy Heidi was talking with Poppy,” Leila replied as Ellie climbed up onto the step stool so she could see what Connor was doing at the counter. She always liked watching what Connor did in the kitchen and he couldn’t wait to the day that Ellie was old enough that she could start learning how to make some things on her own. For now, though, having her sit on the counter next to him was about all clumsy small fingers were good for.

“Oh, of course, he was,” Connor replied, “do you girls want some juice or something?”

“No thanks Daddy,” Leila said, with Ellie parroting a similar statement before the two of them scooted out of the kitchen and back towards the playroom. Smiling into the pot of gravy and giving it another quick stir before turning back to chopping up the pieces of bread, Connor listened for the increasingly closer footfalls of Evan and Heidi.

“Merry Christmas Connor,” Heidi said, rounding the counter to accept a hug from Connor, “Leila and Ellie are very festive tonight.”

“Mhmm,” Connor agreed, smiling across the countertop towards where Evan was putting the cookies Heidi had brought with her out on a festive tray that they had found at the dollar store a couple of weeks back.

“I tell everyone this, you know,” Heidi stated, “I tell everyone that I knew you boys would be the best fathers. Just the best. Better than Mark and I ever did with you, Evan. Those girls love you.”

“Aww mom,” Evan said, coming to her side, “you did great with me.”

Sniffling a little, Heidi gently wiped a finger under her eye before wrapping her arms around both Connor and Evan’s torsos. Leaning her head first against Evan’s shoulder and then into Connor’s upper arm, she said, “you boys are the best thing that ever happened to me. But! It's Christmas! Not a time for moping around, let's go see what your two little angels have gotten up to over there.”

Heading out of the kitchen in search of Leila and Ellie, Connor turned to Evan with a smile once Heidi was out of sight.

“Love you,” Connor whispered, leaning forwards and pressing a kiss to Evan’s lips.

“I love you too,” Evan replied, rising up on his tiptoes to press another kiss to Connor’s lips, “I missed you so much you know?”

“Yeah?” Connor said, pulling Evan into a hug, the smaller-framed man curling his head into Connor’s chest in a way that was so perfect.

“Yeah. And Cooper too, of course,” Evan said with a snorted laugh at the end.

“Of course,” Connor replied, “at least I won’t be going anywhere for a while now. A couple of weeks off and you know what?”

“What?” Evan said.

“I’m going to spend every single one of those days with you and the girls,” Connor replied, “Gonna make up for this past week.”

“You don’t have to make up for anything Connor, I promise,” Evan said, pressing another kiss to Connor’s lips before pulling back a little to ask, “have I told you how much I love you?”

“Mhmm,” Connor replied.

“Good,” Evan said with a smile, “because it's true.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can interpret this as essentially anytime in Connor and Evan's life after the end of Don't Let Go, however, Rocky is implied to be aged significantly, yet still alive, so likely between 3-6 years later, making Connor and Evan anywhere between 24 and 27. Ellie and Leila are six years old in this but would have been five when they were adopted. 
> 
> I would like to note that I do not have an emotional support animal, a service animal, nor have ever owned a pet in my life. I know next to nothing about dogs and, admittedly, I am scared of them. Please take any of my claims about Rocky and Cooper with a grain of salt. 
> 
> To those of you who celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas Eve! To those who don't, happy holidays and winter break! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!


End file.
